Oogway's Little Owl - Chapter 23

[Temple of Inari]

The Valley of Peace was a truly beautiful place. On clear days, from the top of the mountain where rested the Jade Palace, the rolling green hills and brilliant rivers weaving between the massive stone pillars that rose up from the landscape, all of it framed by high-rising peaks. The Heavenly Peach Tree’s children dotted the valley, lesser than their parent but no less beautiful and just as prone to blooming several times a year. On windy days, pink petals fell like snow.

The Jade Palace itself was no less magnificent, the jewel in the crown that was the Valley’s surrounding peaks--Tailei’s time under Oogway might have given her a bigger predilection toward metaphor, she realized. Even still, she could appreciate the artistry that went into every detail of the structure. The less ceremonial areas, such as the barracks, the training grounds and the dining hall, were much less ostentatious, but the Hall of Warriors, the forward arena, the gardens; they were all designed with equally as much form as function.

Tailei had gotten used to the sights of the Valley, but she was still able to find the Temple of Inari impressive. 

“I can see a lot of the Jade Palace here,” Taylor noted. “You’ve even got your own peach tree.”

“The Konohana sapling was here long before I left to train in China,” Eiko said as they passed the tree. She paused to bow in its direction, Taylor and Oogway mimicking her. “When I was young, the temple that had been my home was destroyed in a calamity. A foul demon had gained a source of power and was abusing it. I had thought myself a suitable guardian, but I failed. I swore to Inari that I would rebuild better than before, but before I could do that I had to drive the evil spirit away.”

She smiled at Oogway. “The eldest priestess gave me guidance, and set me on the journey that would eventually lead me to the Valley of Peace, where I became Master Fox. I learned much, more than I ever thought possible.”

“You were a determined student,” Oogway said, smiling back. “If a mischievous one.”

Eiko grinned. Looking back at Taylor, she continued. “When I returned to Japan, the demon had almost sucked the Sapling dry. But even with all the power he had absorbed from this holy place, he was no match for me!”

Minoru smirked. “Oh yes, no match at all. Tricking him into lowering his guard by letting him smack you with a tree trunk was a masterstroke of strategic genius.”

“Shut.” She swatted him with her tail. 

Taylor looked around. It was peaceful here. Very quiet. The forest was idyllic, really, like something out of a storybook. The sapling stood taller than most of the surrounding trees, shrouded in pink petals. Its branches curled around each other oddly, framing the sun in unique ways; standing underneath it, a person in a white cloak stood by an easel, calmly painting. Taylor didn’t know why it was called just a sapling, given its size…

As if sensing her gaze, the painter turned to look at them. Taylor waved, and got a small smile and a wave back.

There were others in the gardens, too. Rabbits, of course, but also dogs like Minoru. Some of them tended the gardens. Others, in more ornate garb, went around replacing candles in stone lanterns placed all around the complex. A pair of cranes stood in the distance, looking over a pond, where a large fish poked its head out of the water to talk to them, kanji painted on its scales. 

It was calm. Peaceful. The song that hummed through the air was soft and soothing. Although it also felt… Taylor couldn’t place the feeling.

There weren’t even bugs buzzing among the flowers to disrupt the quiet.

The temple itself stood five stories tall. It was red where the Jade Palace was green and gold where it was red. The Chinese-inspired building stood out compared to the few surrounding buildings.

In front of the Temple proper was a large red arch. Eiko called it a torii gate. Eiko and Minoru walked through it without hesitation.

As Taylor and Oogway passed underneath it she nearly tripped. A chorus of low voices joined the song, but she almost didn’t notice. The air felt heavy.

Oogway, to her surprise, seemed affected by it too. “Well! This is impressive for only a hundred years, my pupil.”

“Thank you!” Eiko beamed. “I’ll admit I had a head start. I was able to purify the demon instead of just killing him. All the chakra--sorry, chi--that he’d absorbed was released back into the temple grounds when he died.”

Oogway rubbed his chin. “Most impressive indeed.”

Taylor cleared her throat. “I think I need to ask. When you say demon… what do you actually mean?”

Eiko looked at her surprised. “What? I mean a demon. Is there another meaning for that word?”

“I’ve heard demons mentioned before,” Taylor explained, feeling unaccountably self-conscious. “I kept meaning to ask but always got sidetracked. Master Oogway called them a ‘blight on the world’ but never expanded on it.”

“...You’re a city girl, aren’t you?” Eiko asked after a moment. “From one of those places that forgot the old ways.”

Taylor scowled. It wasn’t wrong, but the way she said it annoyed her.

“Tailei is from much further than China,” Oogway offered.

Eiko huffed. “I see. I’m not going to let you go into battle against a dark spirit without knowing what to expect.”

“Shall I draw up some tea, Mistress?” Minoru asked. “I will deliver it to the sitting room posthaste.”

“Good idea.” Eiko clapped. “In fact, let me show you where you’ll be staying while he does that, and then we can have a talk. About demons, and other things.”

“Tea sounds wonderful,” Oogway agreed. “Tailei?”

Taylor opened her beak, then paused. She swiveled her head around, but saw nothing. 

“Is something the matter?”

“No, nothing… It’s very quiet around here,” she noted.

Eiko grimaced. “That’s… actually one of the things we need to talk about. Come.” 

------------------------------------------

In the gardens, a rabbit stood up from pulling weeds and doffed his hat. He wiped the sweat from his brow, casting his gaze as casually as he could manage towards the guardian fox’s guests.

Genji’s eyes narrowed. “Tch.”

The owl paused midstep, and Genji hummed to himself as her gaze swept over the gardens. He almost believed for a moment that her eyes stopped on him, but that was highly unlikely.

The guardian and her guests were led inside the temple, and Genji whistled a calm tune as he snipped a dead branch off a hedge. Slowly, he continued his work as he moved through the garden; cutting away a withering flower here, trimming back an unruly grass patch there, and finally ending up right up against the outer walls.

He looked up at the sun, measuring the time, and waved at another gardener before walking off the grounds towards the servant house. The Temple of Inari treated their servants well, and Genji savored his break thoroughly. He changed out of his sweaty clothes and washed his fur, enjoying the cool water on his skin.

“Genji, there you are!”

A pair of rabbits stepped inside as he dried off, and he nodded at them. “Tenko. Tenya. Where is Tensei?”

Tenko pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Checking on the Sapling. He thinks a blight might be creeping up on it.”

“The Sapling is stronger than a mere blight,” Genji said, exasperated.

Tenya shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. That sort of thing is normally Ashi’s job, but with her gone… well, you know how Tensei gets.”

Genji did know. Tensei was highly dedicated to the job of tending the garden and extremely paranoid regarding any perceived issue. Without the grasshopper seeing to the trees’ roots, it was no surprise that he would worry. “Have we heard anything about Ashi, by the way?”

The other rabbits shook their heads. “Nothing. I’m really starting to get worried,” Tenko admitted. “I hope Lady Eiko brings them back soon.”

“Speaking of that, did you see the old turtle she arrived with?” Tenya asked. “Who was that?”

“Some important person from China,” Tenko said, moving further into the room and shrugging off her outerwear. “They were speaking Chinese, definitely.”

Tenya grimaced and shoved her behind a changing curtain. “We’ve told you about this, Tenko!”

Tenko rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you’ve never seen it before.”

“I’m your brother, it’s different! You can’t just change in front of a man you’re not related to!” He gestured wildly at Genji, who was politely ignoring them as he got fully dressed himself, putting on a dark blue tunic.

“He’s not even paying attention, are you Genji?”

Genji looked up, disinterested. “Hm? Were you two saying something?”

“See?” She almost sounded disappointed.

Tenya sighed.

“What was that about the turtle?” Genji asked. “There was an owl too, right?”

“Oh, I guess,” Tenko said dismissively. “Some girl, I guess.”

Tenya coughed. “Yes. I speak a little Chinese; I think they were visiting from another temple.”

Genji’s eyebrows raised. “Ah, I think I have heard of this. Did you perchance hear the name ‘Oogway?’”

Tenya snapped his fingers. “Yes, I think I did! Do you know who they are?”

Genji hummed. “Perhaps. I’ll let you know if I find out for sure.” He slipped into his sandals and made for the door.

“Leaving already?”

“It’s well past noon now,” he said, “and I am hungry.”

“Oh, I think Mina was making dumplings today…” Tenko mused. “Yeah, I could eat.”

Genji frowned, but schooled his expression quickly. “Don’t hurry on my account. I prefer to eat alone.”

Tenya sighed again. Tenko huffed. “One of these days we’ll get you to share a meal with us, Genji! You can’t isolate yourself forever!”

“I absolutely can,” he challenged with a grin. He shut the door before she could respond.

Genji breathed out, releasing the tension from his shoulders. He listened to the muffled conversation in the room behind him for a moment, then turned and strode up the hall.

Another rabbit approached him from the other direction. “Tensei, your siblings are still in the changing room.”

“Oh! Thank you, Genji!” the other said.

“Did you find anything wrong with the Sapling?”

“They told you about that?” Tensei shook his head ruefully. “No, I didn’t find anything. I suppose the quiet is getting to me. Without the bugs buzzing around, it’s… eerie.”

Genji couldn’t really argue with that. He nodded to him and kept walking while Tensei went to change.

As he walked through the temple, he nodded at the servants and temple dogs as he passed them, making sure they noticed him.

In the mess hall, he exchanged pleasantries with Mina, the chef, and took a couple of dumplings for his lunch.

It was necessary, doing all this boring socializing. He needed people to see him around. He needed Mina to be able to say that he went to the mess after he told the triplets that he was going there. Thankfully, he’d cultivated a reputation for eating alone, and no one thought much of it anymore.

So, after hiding away under a disused stairway and scarfing down his lunch, Genji pulled his hood up, and vanished into the shadows. He had a job to do.

-----------------------------------

Inari was, among other things, the god of rice, tea, agriculture, swordsmen, and merchants. The Temple, after its rebuilding, specifically revered Inari in his male aspects of prosperity, protection, and (of course) foxes. And despite the well-earned stereotypes of foxes as tricksters, the Temple’s keepers prided themselves as a bastions of honesty and justice. 

You would think a tricky fox like Lady Eiko would know how to keep people sneaking around her home, but fortunately for Genji she did not.

In this hallway there was space under the floorboards, not tall enough for even a rabbit to stand up but sufficient for navigating unseen by crawling. In this room there were multiple partitions he could sneak around, avoiding the meditating dogs in the center. In here, the library shelves were tall enough for him to walk along the top; the cranes never came in here and no one else ever thought to look up.

So he went, taking a long and circuitous route without ever being seen, until he finally arrived at the tea room where Lady Eiko was seeing to her guests. Thankfully one door had been left open, or he’d have had to wait until a servant arrived.

Eiko had ceded her spot at the head of the table to the tortoise; that more than anything convinced Genji that this was truly Oogway. He couldn’t think of anyone else Eiko would give so much honor to in her own home save the Emperor himself. The owl sat opposite Eiko, and was in the middle of a story.

He found a shaded spot in the rafter above them, and settled down to listen.

“...so in the end, in a final bid to escape the consequences of his actions, Jekyll-as-Hyde takes his own life, having left his letter to be found by whoever gets to him first.”

Eiko was leaning on the table, fascinated. “But why would he do that? It’s unbelievable, but even if no one believes Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, he would still have Jekyll’s wealth and restored youth. Surely he could just live out his sentence and return to his normal life?”

“He wasn’t exactly in his right mind at the time,” the owl explained. “He sort of reached the point where he considered the two forms different people, and Hyde had already proved he had no impulse control.”

“And what is the lesson of this story, Tailei?” Oogway asked, adjusting his position on the cushion.

The owl hummed, looking to the ceiling as she gave the question her full consideration. Genji did not flinch or move in any way even as her eyes passed over his hiding spot; any motion would only draw her attention.

“...the lesson I would take from it is not to run from the consequences because they always catch up with you eventually, but you could also take a broader perspective and lay the blame on the society Jekyll lived in--if he wasn’t so repressed, Hyde might not have been such a monster. If you don’t give people the ability to express themselves, their feelings can build up until they burst, sometimes in destructive ways.”

Eiko nodded. “I can relate to that.” Her ears twitched, and Genji held his breath. “I thought it was like a drug addiction myself.”

“That too,” Tailei agreed.

Genji turned his head fractionally as the other door opened, and the chief temple dog walked in carrying a tray of tea.

“Oh, thank you Minoru,” Eiko said, accepting the tray.

“Of course.”

They sat in silence for a moment as they drank, and after Eiko finished her first cup, she took a deep breath and sat that little bit straighter. “Now, to business. You’re here because I need help.”

Genji focused.

“It was something about a giant monster, right?” Tailei asked.

Eiko nodded. “The villagers of Kamiki and the greater Shinshu area call it Jorogumo.”

Tailei tilted her head. “...I… Have I heard of that? It sounds familiar.”

“I thought you didn’t know anything about demons?” Eiko asked, smirking.

Tailei didn’t respond, clearly thinking hard, so Oogway answered for her. “She may not have practical experience, but she knows many stories.” He winked. “It’s her thing.”

“Oh, it’s her thing, why didn’t you say so? Jekyll and Hyde aren’t terribly exceptional, then?”

Tailei broke out of her reverie with an indignant hoot. “It’s a cultural touchstone where I’m from! Everyone knows a version of that story!”

Eiko raised her paws in faux-surrender. “Apologies. Tell me about Jorogumo then, oh story master.”

The owl frowned, shaking her head. “I know I’ve heard the word before… I want to say it was the name of a gang that got absorbed by the ABB when Lung took over, but that was before I was paying full attention to the gang situation back home.” She drummed her feathers on the table. “...Something to do with spiders?”

Eiko nodded, satisfied. “An enormous spider, yes. Traditionally, the stories paint them as a devious yokai that take the form of young women to lure men into their lair for ‘dinner.’” She punctuated the sentence by emptying her cup. “Of course, the legends vary from town to town. The one I grew up with defined them as terribly lonely creatures who literally love people to death, taking them into her web and wrapping them up in a silken blanket so tightly that they never escape. Minoru, what was yours?”

The dog appeared as if from thin air, refilling her cup. “A corrupted guardian, defending a poisoned grove while oblivious to how they were making things worse. She had to be killed by my grandfather before any attempt at cleansing the land could be made.”

Tailei’s brows shot up. “Your grandfather?”

Up above, Genji reacted similarly as he mentally filed that tidbit away.

Minoru smiled without looking away from the wall. “He was a samurai, yes.”

Eiko sighed. “Takeda was a fascinating dog.” A moment of silence passed and she shook herself. “Anyway. The current threat is odd, because as far as I know she hasn’t killed anyone yet, but the Jorogumo disrupted several major trade routes and frightened more than one villager out of their wits. Agata has been all but abandoned for over a week. And then it just vanished; it’s been some time since there were any sightings…”

Tailei glanced at Oogway, but he seemed content to stay quiet. So she asked, “I’m getting the impression that you think this is a bad thing.”

Eiko scowled. “I don’t know. Demons don’t just stop attacking people, and either way I can’t let a monster roam the countryside unchecked.”

Minoru cleared his throat. “There is also the matter of the disappearances.”

“But you said no one was actually hurt?” Tailei asked.

The fox shrugged helplessly. “The Jorogumo can’t be kidnapping anyone, but my gut says they’re responsible anyway. My gut is rarely wrong.”

“Responsible for what?”

“Every bug from here to Ryoshima and beyond is missing.”

Tailei blinked, uncomprehending. “What? Wh--all of them?”

“Every spider, ant, bee and grasshopper.” Eiko leaned back onto her tail. “Every beetle and every fly.”

Oogway frowned. “That… is very bad.”

“Even leaving aside that maybe millions of people are missing,” Tailei muttered, “that’s a complete lack of pollinators and honey and silk and who knows how many other industries. This is a disaster.”

Now it was Eiko’s turn to blink. “Eh-- Yes, exactly.”

“And you think the spider thing is responsible?”

“I don’t have proof,” Eiko admitted. “But… Master Oogway, it was able to manipulate chi and turn my attack back on me.”

The old master’s expression darkened.

“Ever since it touched my chakra, I’ve been having… dreams. Visions of buzzing wings, gnashing mouthparts and scuttling legs.” The mischievous bravado faded away, and Eiko looked haunted now. Her fur started puffing up as she recalled. “I just know Jorogumo is responsible.”

Oogway and Tailei rubbed their chins in sync, which Genji found interesting. The rabbit considered everything he’d learned.

Giant monsters, vanishing insects, these things he knew. Everyone knew. But them being connected wasn’t something he’d heard before, and he doubted anyone would have thought it had power over chakra. He would need to report this.

He shifted, just slightly. Genji had been in the same position for a while now, and would be for a while yet until it was clear for him to make his escape. But as he shifted his weight, the rafter underneath him creaked. It was very, very slight, so faint that Genji, right next to it, could barely hear it--and rabbits were well known for their ears.

The owl’s head snapped around and looked directly at him.

Their eyes met, and Genji cursed as his ancestor’s instincts made him freeze before a bird of prey. He only hesitated for a fraction of a second before his training overcame instinct and he moved, but it was a fraction of a second too long.

The owl Tailei took flight immediately, so fast that her talons caught on the mat beneath her. Eiko and Oogway, reacting to Tailei, pinpointed his location soon after.

The mat followed her up, and Genji turned to jump from rafter to rafter; there was a window higher above. He’d need to crash through it to escape, as it was a piece of solid wood carved into slats.

The mat Tailei carried into the air slapped against his back, making him stumble just enough to mistime a jump. He caught the bar in his hand instead, aiming to swing back up, but then the owl was flying above him.

He glanced down. Eiko’s tail was lashing back and forth as she stared up at him from below, in no hurry to rise to meet him. She seemed sure that Tailei would be pushing him back down.

Genji would have to disappoint her. He completed his swing, bringing his foot up as if to kick the owl in the chest, and instead used her as a springboard to kick towards the wall. Unfortunately she was fluffier than he expected, and he met the wall with not enough force to run along it. Instead he kicked off again, aiming to confuse.

There was a spot, in the corner of the room, where the floor was unfinished. It was hidden by a screen and covered in a throw rug, but there was exposed dirt right there and he could dig his way out. Digging that fast would be hell on his fingers, but he could do it with a spark of chakra, even if he’d pay for it later.

He pounced again off a post, and punched through the screen. He had just committed to the move when he realized that he didn’t see the tortoise, and Genji had just begun to wonder where he’d got off to when he went through the thin wood of the barrier and stopped dead against a shell as hard as stone.

Oogway looked down at the rabbit as he slid to the floor, and unceremoniously pinned him down with his cane.

“It’s very rude to eavesdrop, you know.”

Genji stared at him incredulously, gasping for breath. He looked around desperately, looking for an escape, and found none. Minoru was calmly going about closing the doors and Tailei was blocking access to the ceiling. Eiko seemed to fill the rest of the space with her presence.

The fox glowered at him. “Shinobi.” She said the word like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

Genji slumped. There was no getting away now. The question now was if he was willing to make the honorable sacrifice to protect the secrets of his clan, or if he was going to do whatever it took to live to sneak another day.

The answer was obvious. If he’d cared about honor he’d have become a samurai.

“Let me go and I’ll tell you where the insects are.”

----------------------------------------

[Elsewhere]

Fung was having a bad day. “This sucks.” He looked over his shoulder; a long road stretched behind him, fenced by trees. In front of them was a road that was completely identical in every way. “Are you sure we’re going the right way, squirrel?”

“Of course!” Michi said, indignant. “I deliver to the Temple all the time!”

“But did we have to walk?” he whined.

Michi scoffed. “Gods forbid you get a little exercise,” she said, slapping his belly with her tail. “I didn’t see you coughing up the yen for a carriage.”

Fung growled angrily. His grip tightened on his halberd.

Zhu put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Let’s stay calm, I’m sure they didn’t leave us on purpose.”

“The other explanation is that Oogway forgot about us,” Fung said, brushing his hand away. “And that guy doesn’t forget anything.”

“I mean, he is really old,” Michi offered.

The crocs looked at her, stricken. “Dude, you can’t just say things like that about Master Oogway,” Fung said.

“I’m just saying!” Michi said defensively. “He’s old! He’s the definition of old!” She groaned. “Can’t you guys pick up the pace?”

Gah-ri huffed. “Not really. We’ve got short stumpy legs, and all.”

“Shut up, Gary.”

“If I were by myself, I’d be there already.”

“Well maybe you should just go then!” Fung snapped.

Michi burst out laughing. “You couldn’t find your tail in a thin fog, you expect me to leave you guys alone in a country you know nothing about?”

“We’d do just fine,” Fung insisted.

“We can always ask directions,” Gah-ri added.

“Shut up, Gary!”

“Good luck finding someone else who speaks Chinese,” Michi fired back. “Maybe you’ll get lucky, but frankly your luck seems like garbage.”

“You know what?” Jiang, who’d been silent up to that point, suddenly shoved his way forward. “I’m sick of this.” He stalked up to Michi and towered over her, pointing a sharpened claw into her chest. “I don’t want to hear your claptrap again, period, capiche? You just get us back to Oogway so we can get paid, understand?”

Michi’s eyes hardened. Sadly, her voice gave her away. “O-Or else what?”

He flexed his claws threateningly. “Or else I’ll--”

And then Jiang was in a crater.

“(DYNAMIC ENTRY!)”